Capcom Live — — North American Performance Guest of Honour

"CAPCOM LIVE!" is the official Capcom concert tour, which, unlike the other orchestral format video game concerts, features a high energy rock band, vocalists and orchestra performing the mega-incredible symphonic rock arrangements of the most memorable Capcom game music. One of the most exciting features of the "CAPCOM LIVE!" concert series is the broad array of classic Capcom titles represented in the concert lineup:

● Ace Attorney®

● Monster Hunter™

● Devil May Cry®

● Okami®

● Dragon's Dogma®

● Resident Evil®

● Mega Man®

● Street Fighter®

● Mega Man® X

The show team, from producers to musicians to visuals, tirelessly worked together to create a concert that doesn’t only satisfy fans of the games; the live show experience will be exciting and enjoyable to any concert-goers. CAPCOM LIVE! aims to, while satisfying the Capcom game fans, entertain non-gamers and music fans to let them know how great video game music is.

Since its launch, CAPCOM LIVE! has toured around the world rocking out the places like Boston, Mexico, Tokyo, Shanghai and Beijing.

The project will perform on Sunday, August 5th at Otakuthon 2018 at the Palais des Congrès de Montréal in Main Events 210B.

Registration to Otakuthon 2018 and concert ticket are required to attend the live show.

fhána — — Japanese Performance Guest of Honour

Members information:

towana (vocals)

Junichi Sato (composition, synthesizer)

yuxuki waga (composition, guitar)

kevin mitsunaga (composition, sampler)

In association with:

fhána is a four-person unit consisting of three male sound producers, Junichi Sato, yuxuki waga, kevin mitsunaga and the female vocalist, towana. They were elected for “iTunes NEW ARTISTS 2014” in the brightest newcomer category. The unit also performs around the world and actively produces work with other artists. They are also well known for their connection to anime theme songs.

● "Que Sera Sera" (ケセラセラ Ke Sera Sera) was released on August 21, 2013 and is the ending theme to the 2013 anime series The Eccentric Family (有頂天家族 Uchōten Kazoku).

● "tiny lamp” was used released October 23, 2013 and is the opening theme to the 2013 anime series Gingitsune (ぎんぎつね Gingitsune).

● "Divine Intervention" was released January 22, 2014 and is the opening theme to the 2014 anime series Witchcraft Works (ウィッチクラフトワークス).

● "Itsuka no, Ikutsuka no Kimi to no Sekai" (いつかの、いくつかのきみとのせかい "Somewhen, Some Worlds with You") was released April 30, 2014 and is the opening theme to the 2014 anime series The Kawai Complex Guide to Manors and Hostel Behavior (僕らはみんな河合荘 Bokura wa Minna Kawai-sō).

● "Hoshikuzu no Interlude" ("Stardust Interlude" 星屑のインターリュード ) was released November 5, 2014 and used is the ending theme to the 2014 anime series Celestial Method (天体のメソッド Sora no Mesoddo).

● "wonder stella" (ワンダーステラ) was released on August 5, 2015; the song is the opening theme to the 2015 anime series Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2wei Herz! ( Fate/kaleid liner プリズマ☆イリヤ Fate/kaleid liner purizuma iriya).

● "COMET LUCIFER -The Seed and the Sower-" (コメットルシファー ～The Seed and the Sower～) was released on October 28, 2015; and is the opening theme to the 2015 anime series Comet Lucifer (コメット・ルシファー Kometto Rushifā).

● "Niji Wo Ametara" (“If We Could Weave Rainbows" 虹を編めたら) was released on January 27, 2016; the song is used as the opening theme to the 2016 anime series Haruchika (ハルチカ, also called Haruta & Chika).

● fhána's second studio album "What a Wonderful World Line" was released on April 27, 2016.

● "calling" was released on August 3, 2016; the song is used as the ending theme to the 2016 anime series Tales of Zestiria the X (テイルズ オブ ゼスティリア ザ クロス Teiruzu Obu Zesutiria Za Kurosu).

● "Aozora no Rhapsodi" (Rhapsody in Blue 青空のラプソディ) was released on January 25, 2017; the song is used as the opening theme to the very popular 2017 anime series Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid (小林さんちのメイドラゴン Kobayashi-san Chi no Meidoragon).

● "MOONRIVER" (ムーンリバー) was released on April 26, 2017; the song is used as the ending theme to the 2017 anime The Eccentric Family 2 (有頂天家族 Uchōten Kazoku 2).

● The 12th single "Hello! My World!!" was released on August 2, 2017, and is the opening theme to the 2017 anime series Knight's & Magic (ナイツ＆マジックNaitsu to Majikku)

● The band's 13th single "Watashi no Tame no Monogatari ~My Uncompleted Story~" (わたしのための物語 〜My Uncompleted Story〜) was released on January 31, 2018; the song is used as the opening theme to the 2018 anime series Märchen Mädchen (メルヘン・メドヘン Meruhen Medohen)

● fhána's third studio album “World Atlas” was released on March 28, 2018

fhána will be appearing for the first time in Canada at Otakuthon 2018. Their concert will be held on Saturday August 4th, 2018 in the Main Events room 210B. This appearance is in association with Pinc Inc/UMAA and J-rock North Promotions Inc.

Lia — — Japanese Performance Guest of Honour

With her tone and vocal skill, Lia is known as “Crystal Voice Songstress” and featured in many hit anime and game songs. In 2010, “My Soul, Your Beat!” the title track of the popular anime, “Angel Beats!” charted #3 on Weekly Oricon (the trusted music publication similar to Billboard) and won her Grammy with the album, “Calling All Dawns” that year. In 2015, “Bravely You”, the theme song of anime, “Charlotte” debuted #4 on Oricon and #1 on Billboard Anime Chart. In addition to her professional singing career, Lia provides voice source for IA, the vocaloid.

Lia’s concert will be held on Friday, August 3rd, 2018 in Main Events 210B.

Shiena Nishizawa — — Japanese Performance Guest of Honour

In association with:

Shiena Nishizawa (西沢 幸奏 Nishizawa Shiena) is a Japanese pop rock singer from Saitama,signed to Victor Entertainment under FlyingDog.

In junior high school, she became absorbed in music after receiving a guitar her father had used, which led her to aspire to become a musician. In 2014 while still in high school, she won the Grand Prix in the first FlyingDog Audition. Nishizawa released her debut single "Fubuki" (雪) on February 18, 2015; the song is used as the ending theme to the 2015 anime series Kantai Collection. Her second single "Brand-new World / Piacere" (ピアチェ レ) was released on November 11, 2015; "Brand-new World" is used as the first opening theme to the 2015 anime series The Asterisk War, while "Piacere" is used as the ending theme for the OVA Aria the Avvenire.

She made her first overseas appearance at Germany's DoKomi anime convention in April 2016. Her third single "The Asterisk War" was released on May 25, 2016; the song is used as the second opening theme to The Asterisk War. Nishizawa's fourth single "Kikan" (帰還 Return) was released on November 23, 2016; the song is used as the theme song to KanColle: The Movie. Nishizawa's debut album Break Your Fate was released on March 15, 2017. She appeared at Anime Festival Asia Indonesia in August 2017, Cosplay Mania in the Philippines in October 2017, Anime Festival Asia Singapore in November 2017, and C3 AFA Hong Kong on February 11, 2018. Her fifth single "Love Men Holic" was released on February 21, 2018; the song is used as the ending theme to the 2018 anime series Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-san. She will perform the song "Meteor", which will be used as an insert song in the 2018 anime series Jūshinki Pandora.

Shiena will be appearing for the first time in Canada at Otakuthon 2018. Her concert will be held on Sunday August 5th 2018 in room 710. This appearance is in association with Zepp Live Inc and J-rock North Promotions Inc.

Maidreamin — — Japanese Performance Guest of Honour

Maidreamin is the No.1 Maid Café restaurant in Akihabara. Founded in 2008, maidreamin has become the largest maid cafe chain with 16 locations and over 400 servants from Japan and around the world.

Maidreamin has become a symbol of Akihabara, famous for unique menus (available in multiple languages) and serving meals and drinks with cute magical performances.

Maidreamin’s restaurants have won multiple awards from Trip Advisor for their family-friendly service and fun activities for every master and princess who enters the maid café dreamland. Each restaurant is designed around a different creative visual theme, and features daily live performances from the most energetic and talented maids in Japan.

Maidreamin performs at multiple overseas events, where they demonstrate the traditions and excitement of maid cafe culture. maidreamin created the official Anime Expo theme song in 2017.

Maidreamin is happy to welcome new customers every day as their popularity and influence continue to expand, bringing smiles to Japanese culture fans everywhere.

maidreamin’s concert will be held on Friday August 3, 2018 at 8:30pm in Main Events room 210. Otakuthon Admission + $15 ticket required.

Moe Moe Kyun! (=^・^=)

Danny Choo — — Japanese Industry Guest of Honour

Originally from the UK, Danny Choo is a creator currently residing in Tokyo where he develops a line of fashion dolls called Smart Doll. In his spare time, he directs and produces a TV show called “Culture Japan” and also hosts various anime events around the world.

Danny is also the creator of the Culture Japan character Mirai Suenaga who became a mascot character for Japan Tourism and made appearances in various anime and Japanese TV drama.

Danny is also appointed by the Japanese government to be on various "Cool Japan" committees that focus on the dissemination and monetization of Japanese culture.

Kyle Hebert — — North American Guest of Honour

Kyle Hebert is a Los Angeles-based anime and video game voice actor whose credits include Wreck-It Ralph/Marvel Vs Capcom/Street Fighter (Ryu), Naruto (Kiba), Bleach (Aizen, Ganju), League of Legends (Ezreal, Jarvan, and Graves), Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders (Kakyoin) and Gurren Lagann (Kamina). He is best known as the Narrator and Teen Gohan from the Funimation dub of Dragonball Z and currently voices Gohan in Dragonball Super. Other fan faves include One Punch Man (Atomic Samurai), Blue Exorcist (Bon Suguro), Fire Emblem (Frederick, Validar), Fullmetal Alchemist (Vato Falman), Tales of Symphonia (Richter Abend) and Star Ocean (Dias, Arumat, Crow). Kyle can also be heard in numerous popular shows and games, such as Pokemon (Professor Oak in “Origins”, Eusine in “Generations”), Digimon (Ballistamon and Dorulumon in “Fusion”), Sonic (Big the Cat in “Colors”), Final Fantasy (Nimbus in “Type-0”), World of Warcraft (Algalon the Observer in “Lich King”), Skylanders, Devil May Cry, Dynasty Warriors, Soul Calibur and Resident Evil. He is also the promo voice of filmmaker, Kevin Smith's Smodcast series of podcasts.

Hirokatsu Kihara — — Japanese Industry Guest of Honour

Formerly involved with the production desk at Studio Ghibli, Hirokatsu Kihara was involved in the hit anime Laputa: Castle in the Sky, My Neighbour Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service. Nowadays he writes ghost stories and MCs at monster conventions. He has also done some voice acting work, most notably as the role of Minister of Defense in DC Super Heroes vs. Eagle Talon. His most famous work is Tales of Terror: Haunted Apartment, and has been a crucial contributor to many other hits in this genre.

Hiroshi Matsuyama — — Japanese Industry Guest of Honour

President and Director of the super dynamic Japanese game developing company, CyberConnect2.

He has directed every CyberConnect2 game since .hack//Infection Vol.1.

Aside from work, Matsuyama is a manga fanatic, and reads about 60 manga magazines every month!

CyberConnect2

CyberConnect2 is a Japanese game developing company, founded in 1996 in Fukuoka.

For over 20 years, CC2 have been creating games with the unique Japanese sense of style, the most famous ones being the .hack series, the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja series, and Asura's Wrath.

After opening a studio in Tokyo in 2010, CC2 has now expanded to North America, with a new studio opened in Montreal in 2017.

Lauren Landa — — North American Guest of Honour

Within the world behind the mic, Lauren Landa is most known for roles such as Kasumi in Dead or Alive 5, Litchi Faye Ling in the popular fighting games BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, as well as the sequels Continuum Shift, Continuum Shift Extend, and Chrono Phantasma. She also voiced characters such as Kyoko Sakura in Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Yan Leixia in Soul Calibur V, Little Queen in Tales of Graces, Boiboi in REDLINE, Squigly in Skullgirls, Leia in Tales of Xillia, Chubo Sonken in Ikki Tousen: Great Guardians, Annie Leonhardt in the hit anime series Attack on Titan, One in DrakenGard 3, Nora in Noragami, Sailor Neptune in VIZ Media's Sailor Moon, Merlin in The Seven Deadly Sins and many more!

Erica Mendez — — North American Guest of Honour

Chicago native Erica Mendez is a longtime anime and video game fan turned voice actress. She has been fortunate to play some fan-favorite characters, including: Ryuko in KILL la KILL, Gon in Hunter x Hunter, Aladdin in Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, Yuuki in Sword Art Online II, Sailor Uranus in the new Viz Media dub of Sailor Moon, Akko in Little Witch Academia, Diane in Seven Deadly Sins, Nico in Love Live, and Mash in Fate/Grand Order.

Voice acting isn't the only way she keeps herself busy: she has also ventured into script adaptation and has done work on Little Witch Academia, Sailor Moon SuperS, and Fate/Apocrypha.

Erica graduated from DePaul University with a degree in animation. She currently resides in Los Angeles.

Visit ericamendezvoice.com to check out her full list of credits. You can keep up with Erica's role announcements and incoherent rambling by following her on Twitter @tsunderica.

Tenleid — — Cosplay Guest

Tenleid is a Vancouver-dwelling seamstress who has been cosplaying for 6 years, best known for her portrayals of Persona girls and DC comics heroines - as well as her obsession with Gundam. When she's not busy making anime real in front of the camera, she works behind it, helping Geoff Thew run his Youtube channel, Mother's Basement.

Geoff Thew — — YouTube Guest

Geoff Thew began creating anime-centric YouTube videos as a hobby while he was between jobs back in 2015. The success of his videos about Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, One Punch Man and Sword Art Online allowed him to turn that hobby into a career, and now, three years later, he's become one of the biggest Anime-focused creators on the platform. His main content provides in-depth analysis of minute details in anime, but recently he's branched into comedy with Public Service Anime, a helpful video series that explains how to solve common problems faced by anime characters in their daily lives.

Yuriko Tiger — — Cosplay Guest of Honour

Yuriko Tiger is an Italian cosplayer, model, YouTuber and actress. She has been living and working in Tokyo for five years.

She has been cosplaying and modeling since 2008, having served as the official cosplayer both for Bandai Namco (Tekken 7 series) and Warner Bros Japan (Harley Quinn and Wonder Woman). She worked as an actress in the Dorama "Kin No Tono" and "Prison Hotel". She released two singles, one as an Idol, "Yuri Yuri Kakumei" and the other one, "Haruka", with the name of Samurai Tiger - Samurai Apartment LOVE's Yuriko Tiger.

Sam Pinansky — — Industry Guest of Honour

Sam Pinansky is the President and Founder of J-Novel Club, a new digital publisher of Japanese light novels and more! He moved to Japan over a decade ago and was one of the pioneers of simulcast subtitle localization. Since then he has continued to work with contents and rights holders directly in Japan to provide timely and high-quality localization of anime, manga, movies, and more. With J-Novel Club, he now leads a team of people to publish weekly releases of Japanese light novels and high-quality eBooks for over 100 volumes a year.

Oakville Kenjutsu — — Performing Guest

Yagyu Shinkage Ryu was created around the late-1500's by the pre-eminent sword master Kamiizumi Nobutsuna. The style was originally created out of a fusion of Katori Shinto Ryu and Kage Ryu styles of swordsmanship. The style was the first to infuse the concepts of Zen Buddhism with Japanese swordsmanship. A key principle of the style is to use the sword to save lives, not take them. For this reason, the style became known as the 'life-giving sword'. The Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu was so impressed with the style and its philosophy that he appointed its master instructor, Yagyu Munenori, to be the official sword instructor for his family.

Centre Samourai Koryukan — — Performing Guest

Centre Samourai Koryukan was established in 1999 by Sensei Medhat Darwish in Montreal, Canada, for a dedicated study to classical martial arts.

The center is specialized in Daitoryu Aikijujutsu, Yamato Tenshin Ryu Bojutsu and Heiho Niten Ichi Ryu of the famous samurai Miyamoto Musashi.

Patricia Summersett — — North American Guest of Honour

Canadian American actor Patricia Summersett works in tv, film, theatre, video games and music. She recently became the voice of Princess Zelda in Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, making her the first official voice of Zelda in the game's thirty-year franchise. The launch title for the Nintendo Switch, 'Breath of the Wild' was awarded 'Game of the Year' in Japan, the UK, and the US.

No stranger to AAA games, Patricia has provided full performance capture for two assassins in Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Franchise (Hope Jensen- AC Rogue/Galina Voronina-AC Syndicate) and she is 'Ash' in the popular esports title Rainbow Six: Siege.

Other select titles include: For Honor and Far Cry: Primal for Ubisoft; Deus Ex: Mankind Divided for Eidos, Suikoden Tierkreis for Konami, VR game Lucky Night: Texas Hold'em by Tencent and the new indie RPG Omensight by Spearhead Games.Patricia has appeared in notable films such as Darren Aronofsky's Mother! and Wiebke Von Carolsfeld's indie hit The Saver and was the onset puppeteer/voice of Smurfette, Vexy and Clumsy during the making of Sony's Smurfs II opposite Hank Azaria and Neil Patrick Harris. She's worked on several tv shows including Syfy's Helix by Ron Moore, Emma (BBC) and The Bold Type (Freeform/ABC).

Patricia is a theatre graduate of the Classical Acting program from RCSSD in London and has been nominated for three META/MECCA (Montreal English Theatre/Critics Circle Awards) for her stage work. She is gearing up to record a second album with her six-piece folk band (Summersettband.com) due out this Fall 2018. Patricia is currently based in Montreal and LA.

Erica is one of New York's premier voice actresses.Shehas provided the voice for over 150 characters in the world of animation for television, film and video games over the past 15 years. Erica is known for being active in the autistic community, supporting her fans' challenges and triumphs. She has voiced over 10 characters in the 5 YU-GI-OH series, making her the only voice actress to appear in all 5 series, including such characters: Mai Valentine, AkizaIzinski, Dark Magician Girl, Rally Dawson andCathy Catherine. Over the years she has voiced over 50 characters and various Pokemon on POKEMON including: Nurse Joy, Fantina, Bianca, Grace, Meloetta, Pidove, Pancham, Sylveon, Tapu Koko, and many more. Other notable roles include: Monkey D. Luffy in ONE PIECE, Blaze the Cat and Wave the Swallow from the SONIC video games, the legendary Emma Frost in Joss Whedon's Stop Motion Comic ASTONISHING X-MEN, Faragonda, Icy the Witch, Piff, Daphne, Galatea, Squonk and Critty from WINX CLUB, Lyserg from SHAMAN KING, Rai and Komorka from TAI CHI CHASERS, Bridgette Verdant (Lettuce) from MEW MEW POWER, Olgariki from GO GO RIKI, Shiho from AH! MY GODDESS, Scarlet Claw in CUTIE HONEY, from the makers of THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE, The Spirit of the Mountain (role shared with Sean Schemmel), in THE BOY WHO WANTED TO BE A BEAR, The Witch in the Cannes Film Festival's LITTLE LONG NOSE and many more titles. Select newer roles and releases include: YOUR NAME, GUNDAM SEED and GUNDAM DESTINY (role to be announced), Melissa Trail in YU-GI-OH Arc V, Akemi in ZETMAN, Yurika Yamagiwa in PSYCHIC SCHOOL WARS, Zarafa in ZARAFA, Nagako Aoki in MAI MAI MIRACLE and her newest role to hit Saturday morning, Astoria Rapunzel on Nickelodeon's fantastical REGAL ACADEMY. The second season is now airing on Nick Jr. Erica recently recorded a song as the character of Elita in Signe Baumane's new animated feature with Cameron Monaghan and Emma Kenney of SHAMELESS and Matthew Modine of STRANGER THINGS, coming out in 2018 titled, MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH MARRIAGE. She also just starred as Betsy in an episode of the award-winning podcast, THE TRUTH, featured on such shows as ALL THINGS CONSIDERED and THIS AMERICAN LIFE among others. Erica is currently working on Dan's Green's much anticipated audiodrama, CROSSING THE GODS as Dominea. Erica recently took over the role of Wobbuffet for POKEMON SUN AND MOON.

In addition to the several POKEMON, SONIC and ONE PIECE video games she has worked on, Erica has also voiced characters in several other video game titles such as: SHADOW HEARTS: FROM THE NEW WORLD, WHITE DAY, LITTLEST PET SHOP, DUNGEON HUNTER V, JUST CAUSE 3, SUPER SMASH BROS., INSECTICIDE, and many more. As a theater and musical theater actress, Erica has also appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway and regionally and sings on the original cast recordings of JANE EYRE, SHOUT! THE MOD MUSICAL and a bunch of other concept albums. Erica has won a SALT award for MY MOTHER'S LESBIAN JEWISH WICCAN WEDDING and an Outstanding Acting Performance Award in the 2014 ZED FEST FILMFESTIVAL for the television pilot, ZOM-COM, playing opposite Dan Deluca and Sonic actor, Jason Griffith. Her greatest gift to this world is her role as mother of her two babes.

Milou — — Cosplay Guest of Honour

"Hi! My name is Milou, and I come from France! I started cosplay 10 years ago, and each year since then has always brought me a new experience! In 2016, I won the European Cosplay Gathering Contest. In 2017, I won the "Brother" Best Costume Award with my friend Aluota. In 2018, I won Clara Cow's Cosplay Cup Selection. Otakuthon 2018 will be another new experience for me, and I can't wait to be there and meet you all!

I cosplay because I love being on stage. I'm a pro costumer, so creating costumes is an everyday thing, but being on stage is, for me, the ultimate way to feel good in cosplay. I'm known for my crazy skits as they can be dark, joyful, or even poetic. I love working with a lot of different cosplayers: everyone has something special and unique! I'm glad to have done the World Cosplay Summit with Aluota as she has so much charisma and I'm really proud of the amazing support of the audience all around the world on niconico Stream! Team Oulalalala loves you all!

I'm shy as hell, but I love to share my love about cosplay so much! I'm looking forward to seeing you all and visiting your wonderful country!".

Photo: Songvira

Aluota — — Cosplay Guest of Honour

"Hello! I'm Aluota, and I've been a cosplayer for 10 years. Last year, with my friend Milou, we were the French representatives at the World Cosplay Summit 2017 in Japan and we won the 'Brother' Best Costume Award! The WCS was such an amazing experience and I can't wait to talk about it with all of you!

I love to make all kind of cosplay: warrior, princess, idol, vampire, and also witch...

I also like to spend my time working on tiny details on my costume that nobody will ever see... And more than anything, I love to be on stage and perform my skit!

I am a gif addict, I love musicals, YouTube videos about science and history. I also love LARP, TV series, making of movies, epic music, 'The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time', and my lovely corgi.

Come meet me at Otakuthon!".

Photo: Songvira

The 404s — — Performing Guest

Fifteen years ago, the ancient seals were broken and spirits of madness and chaos were unleashed upon the convention scene to bring the delight of attendees and elicit the groans of convention staff. And we’ve been grateful for every moment. We are the 404s – Canada’s Finest if not Weirdest Geek Improv Troup. We’ve performed across the whole of Canada and in the United States including Anime North, The Calgary Expo and many more. We’ve achieved this through our famous “Whose Line” inspired short form improv show, but also our head to head league format show pitting improv teams against one another as well as our “Missing Episodes”. Throughout our fifteen-year journey we’ve shown time and time again that we put our hearts behind each one of our performances so that the audience is entertained no matter the age or the fandom.

Valérie Lévesque — — Special Guest

Valérie Lévesque is an author and Québécois content creator in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region.

She is the author of the book 'Les bentos de Valérie', available everywhere books are sold in Quebec. She is also a culinary columnist in the popular magazine ‘Cool!’ and ‘Foodlavie’ expert (from Zeste TV).

She is followed by more than 30,000 subscribers on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube in her name (Valérie Lévesque, @bentodevalerie). Her topics include bento and onigiri, cute and Asian cuisine, anime and manga, K-pop, Kawaii and alternative fashion and more. She also shares slices of her Geek flavour life. You can find her videos and articles on valerielevesque.com!

For the past 3 years, she has been giving workshops and conferences on creating original bento and onigiris in many Quebec anime and Geek conventions. She was also invited in December 2017 to share her passion at the ‘Japan Touch de Lyon’ in France.

Valérie will be at Otakuthon to animate a workshop of creative onigiri and you will be able to get your hands on a copy of her autographed book! If you already have a copy, bring it and she will be happy to give you a personalized dedication!

Orchestre Portable de Jeux Vidéo (OPJV) — — Performing Guest

The Orchestre Portable de Jeux Vidéo (OPJV) is a small orchestra of twenty passionate musicians that offers a unique expérience to video games music lovers. As indicated by its name, this ensemble will perform arrangments from all time favorites, going from classics such as Zelda and Final Fantasy to more modern games like Mario Odyssey and Skyrim. Conducted by Sebastien Wall-Lacelle, the OPJV musicians will transport fans in the worlds that they explored in their favorite video games through their iconic musical themes.

Ian Sinclair — — North American Guest of Honour

Ian Sinclair is an actor, director, and voice actor that has been working in the anime and video game industry for over a decade. Some of his more popular roles include: Whis in DragonBall Super, Dandy in Space Dandy, Magna Swing in Black Clover, Pipimi in Bob Epic Team, Brook in One Piece, Rashid in Street Fighter V, Berkut in Fire Emblem Heroes, Koiwai in Recovery of an MMO Junkie, Bard in Black Butler, Romano in Hetalia, Toriko in Toriko, Sosuke Yamazaki in Free! Eternal Summer, Hijikata Toshizo in Drifters, Favaro in Rage of Bahamut, Ryner Lute in Legend of the Legendary Heroes, Worick Arcangelo in Gangsta, Zapp Renfro in Blood Blockade Battlefront,Mezo Shoji in My Hero Academia, Chuck in Panty and Stocking, Zaveid in Tales Of Zestiria, Ox in Juni Taisen: Zodiac War, Professor Nakayama in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, 12 th in Future Diary, Yu Kanda in D Gray Man, Celestino in Yuri!!! on Ice, Tatara in The Boy and the Beast, Gija in Yona of the Dawn, Montana in BattleBorn, Nile Dok in Attack on Titan, Baron Flynt in Borderlands, Dallas Genoard in Baccano!, Juzo Sakakura in Danganronpa 3, Emilio Langheim in Endride, Prince Salva in Dimension W, Hajime in Nanbaka, The Reaper in Assassination Classroom, Hamura in Terror in Resonance, Mitsuhide in Snow White with the Red Hair, Lawless in Servamp, Williams in Genocidal Organ, Nagare Akiba in Ushio & Tora, Akane in Soul Eater Not!, Yaiba in Show by Rock, Shiho Kimizuki in Seraph of the End, Otohiko in Kamisama Kiss, R in Jormungand, Tanaka in the Shana series, Tatsumi in Shiki, Alcides in Appleseed XIII, Marc Cole in Spice and Wolf 2, Ginei Morioka in Rosario + Vampire, Shu Koibuchi in Princess Jellyfish, Takeru Oyama in Maken-Ki!, Bora and Kawazu in Fairy Tail, Sha Gyojo in Saiyuki Reload Blast, Grossular in ACCA, Liam in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Tyr in Smite, Toval Randonneur in Trails of Cold Steel 2, Momotaro in God Wars: Future Past, and many more.

Komachi Montreal — — Performing Guest

Komachi Montreal is a Japanese dance group established in 2007 which performs Japanese folk dances throughout the Montreal region as well as in Quebec, New York and Ottawa. Our performances aim to make you live pleasant moments through traditional Japanese dances. Come and share this festive energy and dance with us! There will also be a Japanese traditional type dance workshop. Come dance and enjoy yourself with Komachi Montreal! In 2016, Komachi made a video of "Koi suru Fortune Cookie" by AKB48, a very popular J-pop idol group in Japan, to introduce the city of Montreal. We filmed several scenes during Otakuthon 2015.

Jacob Grady — — Industry Guest

Jacob Grady is the founder and CEO of FAKKU, the largest English-language hentai publisher in the world. Fueled by his passion for anime and manga, Jacob created FAKKU while attending university in 2006. Since then, FAKKU has grown into one of the most popular websites in the world and is now a publisher of hentai, manga, games, and anime.